


A Hero's Welcome

by gethbecomesher



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Post-Mass Effect 2, Pre-Mass Effect 3, the crew is back at it look out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:35:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23422543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gethbecomesher/pseuds/gethbecomesher
Summary: Shepard and Friends arrive on Omega directly after the battle at the Collector Base. The Normandy is in need of repairs and the crew is in need of a break. Omega has other plans, however, and Shep & Co. get roped into helping Aria squash a Blue Suns rebellion happening on the station. An old friend of Garrus' is targeted by the Suns, making the mission personal for him. Shepard and Garrus are both discovering what being together romantically means for them as squad mates, especially in times of uncertainty and danger.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. The Omega 4 Relay

"All primary systems functional and online. I believe that we will be able to return through the Omega 4 relay now, Shepard.” EDI’s voice sounded through the holographic terminal at Shepard’s side.

"Thanks, EDI. What about those hull breaches down in the cargo hold? Is it safe to go through a relay with holes in the ship?"

"The emergency barriers are designed to withstand significantly more force than is produced by travel through a mass relay. The Normandy is fit to travel, Commander."

"Commander, did you just insult the VI? I didn't think it could be done," said Joker in mock surprise.

"I am not offended, Jeff. I responded to the commander's safety inquiry with the information she requested."

"Can you blame me for not wanting to get sucked out of a hole at FTL speeds, EDI? I've been spaced once, I  _ really _ don't want to do that again," said Shepard.

"We get it, Commander. Setting approach vector for the Omega 4 relay now," said Joker, his hands busy on the monitors.

"Alright, Joker. Take us through. I've had enough of this system," said Shepard, giving a last wary look toward the Omega 4 relay. Why did it have to be red? Why couldn't it be a normal, calming blue like the rest of the galaxy's relays? 

The commander about-faced, suddenly acutely aware of her physical state. She had come straight to the bridge from the collector ship and was still covered in filth. She supposed Joker’s lack of remarks about it told her what he didn’t. He had been as scared as the rest of them. 

Shepard walked, or rather, hobbled across the CIC to reach the elevator. The muscles that weren’t seizing were tender and she could still feel the vibrating sensation from the combination of adrenaline and medi-gel in her bones. There was nothing she wanted more at that moment than to remove her armor and jump into the shower, but she was also afraid of what she might see. 

The Normandy was quieter than usual, but a steadfast skeleton crew remained at their stations to keep the systems running. If she weren’t so exhausted, she would have thanked them all personally, but the best she could manage was a shaky salute as she walked past. 

Doubtless, her crew were already decompressing in their own unique ways. She began to wonder what those ways might be and suddenly she was extremely concerned for deck four – home to the most destructive members of her crew. Shepard had a vivid vision of Grunt, Jack and Zaeed laughing maniacally together and punching additional holes in the cargo hold. She shrugged it off and made it a point to head down to the engineering deck later.

In her cabin, Shepard removed her visor, and placed it on the desk next to her private terminal. She shedded the rest of her armor in a dirty, bloody trail to her cabin bathroom, purposely avoiding the mirror before she doused herself in hot water. It took her a moment to realize the loud groaning sound she heard came from her. She stayed there until the water that beat down on her ran clear, and would have stayed for much longer if she wasn’t positive the crew would have something to say about her running down the Normandy’s hot water reserves.

Relief flooded through her when the mirror told her she didn’t look as bad as she felt. There were a couple burns and a few lacerations, nothing deep. She almost wished she had left the fight with some kind of visible scar that reflected what she felt inside. The colonists they were too late to save certainly weren’t as lucky as she was. 

Her head was swimming with memories from the fight. She remembered every wrong step she made, every time she let the enemy have the upper hand when she could have prevented it. Sure, they came out victorious, but close calls like that could have cost her or her squad their lives. Ashley Williams’ face appeared in her mind and guilt stabbed at her, as it always did. As much as the rest of the crew told her they understood the call she made on Virmire, she couldn’t believe they saw her the same way after that; she certainly didn’t.

At the moment, however, the giant metal face of the human-reaper embryo was what haunted her thoughts. She had shot those glowing orange eyes right out of its head. She and her team had destroyed the Collectors' project which had cost hundreds of thousands of human lives. There was so much they didn't know about the reapers. Why were they building one to look like a human? Shepard was afraid to find out the answer to that question, but she knew it was important. Her team destroyed the reaper and then destroyed the whole Collector base contrary to the Illusive Man's wishes. He was less than pleased with Shepard at the moment, she knew that for a fact. She wasn’t sure if he would try to make a move against her to attempt to woo her back to Cerberus. He was notorious for placing her entire crew in dangerous situations that could have spelled their death. She didn't know if she could count on his regard of her as a "human icon" to keep him from trying to kill her, or at least from trying to stop her from defeating the reapers so that Cerberus could claim the glory.

She had almost believed that she and Cerberus were on the same side - or at least had similar goals. She should have known better. The Illusive Man believed he could use the reaper technology, but how many times had Shepard shut down Cerberus operations gone wrong? She felt confident that she made the right decision. The approval of her crew helped. Even Miranda had supported her decision to destroy the Collector base. Even so, Shepard couldn't help but feel nervous. Pissing off the Illusive Man was not something she had planned, but she was pretty sure she was prepared to live with the consequences.

Shepard gingerly pulled on a set of sweats and laid down on her bed for a moment. She felt the ship decelerate after the jump through the Omega 4 relay. She let out a sigh of relief, glad to be back in space she recognized.

"Congratulations, Commander. First humans to make it round-trip through the Omega 4 relay!" rejoiced Joker over the comm.

"If anyone could get us in and out safely, it was you, Joker. Put us in orbit around Omega. Let's see if we can find some salvage parts to patch up the hull," replied Shepard.

"Aye aye, Commander."

"EDI, give me access to the ship-wide intercom, please," requested Shepard.

"Certainly, Commander. Intercom is now ready for use," replied EDI. A charming low bell tone resonated throghout the Normandy.

"Shepard here. Congratulations, team. By now you've noticed that we've successfully navigated the Omega 4 relay. Each and every one of you has contributed to this achievement in your own way. We've all heard that it couldn't be done. We proved them wrong. Our fight is far from over, but for now we've all earned a little R&R. We'll be docking at Omega station shortly. Before anyone is dismissed, I'd like to meet with all officers, specialists, and team members in the briefing room in five minutes, please. All other crew members should expect a leave schedule from their commanding officer shortly. Shepard out."

Not wanting to be late to her own meeting, Shepard reluctantly left the warm softness of her bed and tried not to groan too loudly as she stood and walked to the elevator. She paced the length of the briefing room several times before Jacob walked in. He looked at her sweatpants and raised an eyebrow.

"Casual Friday?" said Jacob. 

"Don’t tell the CO," she said. Jacob smirked. 

The rest of her team slowly filled the small briefing room. Most of the crew had already cleaned up. Zaeed and Grunt seemed to be the only ones who didn't feel the urgent need to shower after the battle. Garrus entered and walked purposefully straight over to her. She looked up at him and they searched each other’s faces. Neither of them were big on PDA, especially on duty, but when Garrus gently traced the long cut on her forehead, she had to stop herself from pulling his face down for a kiss. Instead, she cleared her throat and turned to the room. Most of the crew were in conversation amongst themselves or paying attention to data pads. Garrus grabbed Shepard’s hand discreetly under the meeting room table. She couldn’t hide her smirk. 

Shepard noted with amusement that Mordin was the last to arrive, even though his office was closest to the briefing room. Probably running tests on Collector tissue or tech, she figured. She briefly wondered if Mordin ever slept, trying to remember if she'd ever even seen him tired. She tried to bring her focus to the meeting she'd called. When she looked around the room, she was suddenly filled with an overwhelming sense of pride and relief. No one was killed. A few were a little beat up, but no serious injuries. She wanted to give everyone on her crew something nice, something they deserved. The best she could do at the moment was shore leave on Omega. She wasn't particularly excited at the prospect of hanging around in the lawless station, but it was a change of pace, at least.

"Thanks for coming, everyone. Like I said, I'm not officially considering this mission completed," Shepard gave a meaningful glance to Samara, who nodded in response. "However, we've docked at Omega station for a break and repairs. I would like for everyone to have some shore leave, and as we'll likely be here for the next forty eight hours, I think twenty four hour shifts are in order. CO's should make schedules for your subordinates and give them to Miranda as soon as you can. If you report directly to me, I've already given my list to Miranda, so you can check with me or ask her about your leave. We'll debrief the collector base after the Normandy is repaired, giving everyone some time and distance to collect their thoughts. Use it well, people."

"Excellent, am looking forward to checking up on the clinic in person," said Mordin.

"My parents live there, anyone looking for a place to stay on Omega would be welcome," said Ken Donnelly.

"Great, thanks Ken. Let's save the logistics for after this meeting, though. Looking to keep it short," said Shepard. Ken flushed slightly, but waved and gestured that anyone who wanted to could talk to him after the meeting. "So, if there are no questions," Shepard paused, looking around. Others were looking around as well, clearly anxious to be off duty. "Great, thank you everyone. Told you it'd be short. I'd like to speak with Tali and Garrus for a minute, everyone else dismissed."

With great bustle and murmur, the group shuffled out of the briefing room. Garrus squeezed Shepard's hand and murmured "Your quarters after this". The low vibrations of his voice gave her goosebumps. Tali perched herself upon the table and looked between the two of them. 

"The Normandy's got some holes that need to be patched up. Garrus, you know Omega. Where is a good salvage yard?"

"A good one, Shepard? Or a reputable one? I shouldn't have to tell you that there's a big difference on Omega," replied the turian.

"Honestly, at this point, reputation doesn't concern me as much as cost. I'm afraid we're cut off from Cerberus credits. I haven't got a chance to ask the council or the alliance for help yet, but that is probably the next stop. We're working on a budget here."

"In that case, there is a place down in the lower markets that I've worked with in the past. I'll have to see if my contacts are still active, but if they are, the proprietor there owes me a favor," said Garrus. His eyes squinted in a grin.

"Excellent, we'll start there. Tali, I'll need you when we get the parts to actually fix the hull. EDI's got systems under control, but I'll need you for the physical repairs."

"You can count on me, Shepard. I'll make a list of supplies we'll need. I'll be in engineering if you need me," said Tali'Zorah.

"I have already compiled a list of components necessary to complete repairs on the Normandy, Tali'Zorah. Forwarding it to your log now," said EDI, popping up from the table. Tali threw her hands up and huffed. Shepard gave Tali a sympathetic smile. The quarian mistrusted VI technology, and with good reason. Shepard knew Tali struggled with more of a personal grudge against EDI for being associated with Cerberus.

"Well then, that's it. Meet me at the airlock in -" Shepard looked at her omni-tool for the time. "Three hours. You guys know what to do. We're done here, dismissed," said the commander. Shepard followed Garrus and Tali out of the briefing room into the CIC. Tali took the elevator down first, while she and Garrus waited for it to come back up. Looking across her bridge, she could see Joker adjusting his monitors, talking to Omega flight control over his earpiece. EDI's holographic image seemed to hover behind him, and Shepard could tell she was trying to offer some advice to the helmsman. The elevator returned to the CIC level and Garrus followed Shepard inside. 

She playfully swatted Garrus’ hand away from her ass and turned around to chide him for insubordination. When she turned toward him, the look of heat in his steely blue eyes made her stomach flip.


	2. Before the Inevitable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and Garrus have a private moment before touching base on Omega.

Commander Shepard breathed a deep, satisfied sigh. Garrus was asleep, but when she nestled her body closer to his, he unconsciously pulled her closer. She felt his breath against her neck through her hair and tried to take a mental picture of this perfect moment before the dark thoughts that plagued her inevitably ruined it. She felt like she should finally be able to take a deep breath and relax for a moment, but couldn’t shake the feeling that returning from a suicide mission with zero casualties meant that fate or luck or whatever would be waiting to collect what was due somewhere else down the road. 

If someone, anyone, told her there was something she could do to stop the feeling that the sword of Damocles was perpetually hanging over her head, she would do it, no questions asked. She knew there was no such answer, not for her. Not for anyone on her crew, really. Maybe that’s what made them such a tight team; the knowledge that there would always be someone or something that would want to see each and every one of them dead. There was no such thing as relaxation for any of them, not any more. 

Garrus stirred and murmured something unintelligible into her hair. Shepard flashed back to her reunion with him on Omega, when every merc on Omega was throwing credits and bodies at trying to bring down Archangel. If she had suspicions that Archangel was Garrus, her Garrus, it was nothing to seeing him holed up there, exhausted, stubborn, and pissed off. She had still never fully described to him how endearing that reunion was for her, even if the thought of it still scared the shit out of her. She couldn’t remember that day without seeing the rocket come at him, the flash of the impact, and his body slump to the ground. 

Maybe that’s just how it had to be with them. She had given him plenty of scares. Hell, he thought she was dead for two years. It had changed him. Every time Shepard asked him about that time, he would get quiet and then change the subject. 

“What are you fighting for, Shepard? A chance to give Garrus some peace?” That was what Liara said on her last visit to the Normandy, after taking over as the Shadow Broker. She was blunt, but she was right. There were few people who knew both her and Garrus better than Liara did, and she had given Shepard a lot to think about after that visit. Yes, she did want that for Garrus, more than anything. He had been hurt, betrayed, but he still kept enough of himself in tact to allow him to let her into his heart. 

When Shepard considered the flip side of that, opening herself up emotionally for him, she balked. She knew in her head that he was there for her, that he had seen the worst and stuck around anyway. Part of her still didn’t understand why. She had spent so much time believing that if anyone were to see the real her, under all the layers of armor and military accolades, not only would they not be impressed, but they would run away from the broken, angry girl inside. 

Where they were now in their relationship, she shared almost everything with Garrus - her fears, doubts, awful thoughts. There was just that one final barrier that she couldn’t shake, despite how much she wanted to. It was holding her back from giving him everything, and she suspected he knew. Giving that up scared her more than going up against any number of enemies, because this time the enemy was herself. If she gave up those inhibitions, that control, she didn’t know what would happen next and had no idea what that level of vulnerability would do to her. 

Garrus stirred again and ran a hand down Shepard’s arm. "What are you thinking about?” he asked. 

"Nothing.”

“Hey,” he said, and moved back to let Shepard on her back. She looked up at him and gave him a crooked smile. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Not right now,” she said. He tilted his head in acknowledgement. After a moment, she added,“I can think of better stuff to do than talking.”

Shepard vaulted up and straddled him, brushing his jaw, forehead, and finally his mouth with slow, tender kisses. The bony plating on his face was cool and dry against her lips. She could feel the soreness of her bruises – it excited her. He moved and his breath was warm against her neck, becoming gradually heavier. His hands were everywhere, over and under her clothes. Shepard whipped off her hoodie and tank top and threw them across the cabin.

“I know what you’re doing, Shepard, but I’m definitely not complaining,” he said, running the sharp edges of his teeth against her collarbone. She shivered. 

“What am I doing?” she asked, breathless. 

With a series of deft maneuvers, Garrus laid her flat on her back, pinning her shoulders. He was on top of her before she realized it, straddling her hips, his gaze intense. Shepard grinned mischievously up at him, impressed by his speed and grace. The buzz of Shepard's comm on the nightstand shattered the moment.

"Uh, Shepard? Are you coming? I’ve been waiting near the airlock for the past twenty minutes," the comm relayed Tali’s voice. Shepard gaped, frustrated. Garrus groaned and rolled off her. 

"Seriously?" she mouthed to Garrus. He shrugged, laughing silently. "Tali, I said sixteen hundred hours," she spoke into the device.

"I know. Find a watch, Shepard." Tali spoke back. Shepard glared at the device. She squinted at her alarm clock. It read 16:10.

"Twenty minutes, my ass," she grumbled.

"We don’t wanna keep her waiting," said Garrus as he dressed. Shepard scowled. 

"I'm coming, give me five minutes. Shepard out," she said into the comm. Shepard opened her closet and found her armor. She was pleased to find it had been cleaned. Her errand was only a routine supplies run, but full armor was appropriate attire for wandering around the gang-filled territories of Omega. "Guess this will have to wait.”

"No rest for the wicked," said Garrus, helping her into her greaves. His hands lingered on her hips. Shepard turned around to find herself in his embrace.

"We'll pick this up when we get back," she said, her lips brushing his as she spoke.

"Promises, promises," he replied. He caught her hand as she reached for her pistol and brushed it with a kiss. “I’ll get my gear from the battery and be right there.” 

Shepard nodded. Here's to making this a quick trip, she thought to herself, and summoned the elevator.


	3. Sense and Liability

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard, Garrus, and Tali venture forth into Omega following Garrus' lead regarding repairs for the Normandy.

Shepard found Tali chatting with Joker in the cockpit. It did not seem to her that they were very put out from having to wait. Shopping trip, in and out, she reminded herself. The cargo hold had holes in it that needed patching, and they were quickly running out of credits. Omega was not only the closest station; parts and labor were far less expensive there than on the Citadel. Probably because the place was overrun with murderers and thieves, thought Shepard grimly. She rearranged her annoyed expression into a pleasant one, and approached the pair.

"...And that's how I got put on the Daratar undesirables list. See Tali? I told you it wasn't that great of a story," said Joker, clearly in his element while entertaining.

"I don't understand, Joker. How did you manage to smuggle a plasma can-" Tali managed to get out before Joker interrupted.

"Commander! We were just sitting here waiting for you. Right Tali? Weren't we just sitting here waiting for the commander?" he said, smiling a little too widely.

"Relax, Joker. I'm not here to start an inquisition. Not today, anyway," said Shepard. Garrus, joining the group, stifled a chuckle behind his hand.

"Great. Well, I'll just get back to – what it was I was doing," said Joker.

"You do that, Joker. Miranda has the deck until I get back," said Shepard. Joker nodded. She turned to Tali and Garrus. "Alright, team. Let's make this happen," said Shepard, gesturing the squad toward the airlock and following behind them.

"See ya, commander," called Joker after her, and turned his chair to face the glowing monitors.

Even though Omega was the base of operations for some of the worst criminals in the galaxy, Shepard found comfort in the station's gritty familiarity. The Collector attacks hadn't changed Omega, not that she expected they would. Looking around, she still saw beggars and groups of thugs in mercenary uniforms. Shepard wondered if anyone on the station even knew what she and her crew had done in their name. We didn't fight the Collectors to be congratulated, she reminded herself. On the other hand, she was glad to see that there were at least some things she could count on.

Garrus led the way down into the lower markets by way of the apartments. Shepard thought he seemed a little on edge; his right hand hovered near the grip of his pistol. It made sense, not two months ago every merc on the station wanted nothing more than his head on a plate. They walked by rows of identical doors to tiny, crowded economy apartments. Shepard noticed some broken glass outside one of the apartments next to a large bluish-brown stain on the wall. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was blood – turian blood. She shook her head, disgusted, and caught up with her group. Shouts echoed over the murmur of the crowd. A batarian "prophet" spouted his anti-human sermon to passerby, occasionally drawing over a shopper or two. Some shouted back, others merely listened. Tali's head moved rapidly back and forth, taking in as much information as she could as they walked.

"This place is fascinating, Shepard. I can't believe I never actually set foot on this station before. We were too busy, I guess," said Tali.

"It's something else, all right," agreed Shepard. "Garrus, what else can you tell me about this contact of yours?"

"He's a mechanic, the best on the station. Underrated because he's human. His name's Andre, but everyone calls him Scratch," said Garrus.

"Scratch? What is it with Omega and nicknames?" asked Shepard. Garrus looked over his shoulder at her, a questioning look on his face. "Never mind. You said this guy owes you a favor?"

"The parts he deals aren't always acquired by legit means, Shepard. I know what you're thinking, but you have to pick your battles around here. He's not perfect, but his work is good and his prices are fair. He got into some trouble with the Blue Suns a while back. They were trying to extort labor out of him – wanted him to work for free or else they'd turn him in for selling stolen property," said Garrus.

"The Suns were probably the ones supplying him with the stolen parts in the first place," offered Tali.

"Exactly. And you know Aria, Shepard. She would just try to clean it up as fast as possible. She'd kick him off Omega, or worse. Keeping the merc groups happy is how she keeps the upper hand. Aria doesn't care about people like Scratch," said Garrus, his voice bitter.

"I see. So you helped him get rid of the Suns?"

"You're damn right I helped him! No one else was going to. It's amazing how people here can know exactly what's going on and just watch, without doing anything about it," said Garrus. Tali laid a hand on his shoulder.

"You did something about it," said Tali, softly. Garrus looked down at her, surprised.

"I – I did what I could," said Garrus, faltering. Shepard looked up at Garrus with soft eyes.

"It's all anyone can do, Garrus. Are we getting close?" asked Shepard.

"Yes, the place is up ahead there," he said. He nodded his head toward the market and he started off. Tali looked up from her omni-tool, caught up with Shepard, and the two followed.

Shepard was glad to be clear of the apartments. It was a tense atmosphere. People on the street walked quickly, keeping their heads down. The further into the apartment corridor they went, the less chatter Shepard noticed. She sensed the local residents were under distress, but she wasn't sure if it was more or less than what was normal for the lower apartments. It was only when they got to the markets that she knew for certain that something was wrong. The markets, which were usually busy, were completely deserted. Shepard held up her hand and stepped out in front of Garrus, then signaled her squad to ready their weapons. The team walked in unison, covering each other. As they reached the middle of the square, the sudden sound of whirring gears surrounded them.

"Security mechs, take cover!" ordered Shepard. She activated her disruptor ammo, aimed, and fired. The nearest mech's head exploded, echoing in the empty hall.

"Deploying overload charges," said Tali. Tali broke cover and overloaded three mechs that were closing in, their robotic voices stuttering as their circuits melted. Garrus sniped one that was making its way from behind a door, then made a sweep of the area. He fired a final shot into one of the short-circuiting robots.

"All clear, commander," said Garrus.

"Security mechs? Is this normal?" asked Tali as she holstered her pistol.

"Not exactly," said Garrus. "I couldn't find any indication of who they belonged to, Shepard. Aria doesn't use mechs, says they're only good for giving out parking tickets and delivering take-out."

"She has a point," said Tali.

"It's clear something's going on, but let's not rush to any conclusions," said Shepard.

"Come on, Scratch's place is just over here," said Garrus, indicating an empty storefront. Every shelf and hook was vacant. A lighted sign flickered in the window, reading "Sorry, We're Closed". At the back of the store was a door. The entry pad glowed red. Shepard moved aside and let Tali bypass the lock.

The door led to a small apartment. Shepard walked around the first room, a living room with a kitchen attached. There was a datapad near the door, broken and unreadable. A table and chairs lay overturned in the corner. She examined the area around the table and found two shattered plates. One of the shards had the remains of some kind of food on it. No mold and no foul odor had Shepard believing the place was ransacked recently.

"There are still valuables here, Shepard. It doesn't look like anything was taken," said Tali, scanning the room.

Shepard followed a short hallway from the living room, found another door and opened it, revealing a small bathroom that seemed to have been undisturbed. The next door opened to a bedroom. Shepard stepped inside, peering around the corner. She heard a loud cry and was knocked back by what felt like an explosion. The air was forced out of her lungs by the impact. Before she had time to react, the force was lifting her into the air by her throat. She couldn't move, all she could see was the bright blue and white of a biotic field. She heard Garrus and Tali rush into the room. She fought to breathe, to yell, but her throat was being crushed by the biotic force.

"I warned you not to come back! Haven't you taken enough from me?" said a feminine voice thick with rage and amplified to near-deafening by her biotics. Shepard was close to blacking out when she felt her body get hurled across the room and crumple against a wall. She rolled over and propped herself onto her hands, coughing. As soon as she got a full breath, she found she was trapped in place once again. She saw Tali run to her, but she was unable to get past the biotic stasis field.

"Kiana?" said Garrus, squinting to see past the light of the biotic field. Shepard found she could open her eyes. She looked up to see clearly the face of an asari woman who was glaring at her with pure hatred. A blue biotic field glowed around her. It was unsteady, almost twitchy, as if she did not have it under her complete control. Garrus took a cautious step closer.

"Don't come any closer, mercenary! I will kill your friend, don't think I won't!" she roared. Shepard could feel the stasis field closing in, constricting her.

"Kiana, let her go. We're here to help. What happened here? Where is Andre?" asked Garrus gently. At the mention of Andre, the asari's biotic field flared and Shepard braced herself for another assault. Instead, when the woman turned and saw Garrus, she dropped her biotic field all together. Shepard gasped and stood up as fast as she could. Her head spun and her whole body ached. She pointed her pistol at the woman.

The woman took a step closer to Garrus. Blue light sparked from her fingertips, she blinked.

"Archangel?" she asked, unbelieving. "But they said you were dead."

"Not yet," said Garrus. Kiana looked closely at Garrus' face, likely more scarred than she last remembered, then turned to pace along the wall of the room. "This is Commander Shepard and Tali’Zorah, they’re friends. Tell us what happened, Kiana."

"I – I wasn't, I couldn't," she began. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she turned to face the wall. Shepard lowered her pistol and cleared her throat.

"Take your time, Kiana," said Shepard. Kiana looked at her, nodded, then took a deep breath.

"They came last night – the Blue Suns. They said you were dead, Archangel, and that Andre didn't have anyone to hide behind anymore. They broke in here and took him right in the middle of dinner! I wasn't fast enough, I couldn't -" said Kiana. She banged her fists against the wall. Tali and Shepard looked at Garrus, waiting for his response. He shook his head, frustrated. Kiana turned, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Where were you? Andre said we didn't have to worry about the Suns anymore because of you."

"It's not his fault!" said Tali, cutting in. Garrus held up a hand, and she backed down.

"I've been away. I'm so sorry this happened to you, Kiana. But I'm here now," he said. The asari looked at the floor, ashamed.

"No, I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault, I just -" she started.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about what happened?" asked Shepard. Kiana walked around the bed and through the door, motioning for the group to follow her into the living room. She pointed to the overturned table.

"We were right there, having dinner. Two batarians in Suns uniforms forced the door open and took Andre. They said they had unfinished business, and that they'd kill him if I tried anything or told anyone what happened," said Kiana with a sob. "If I had been faster, I could have put up a barrier on the door. I'm just glad our daughter wasn't home. Oh goddess, she doesn't even know!"

"It will be okay, Kiana. You can't blame yourself for this. It sounds like they wanted him alive," said Shepard. She looked over at Garrus for confirmation, she could tell his mind was racing. Distracted, he nodded at Shepard. "We'll bring Andre back to you, Kiana."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, about – back there," Kiana began. Shepard shook her head.

"I'm okay. I'd feel sorry for anyone else who tries to break in here, though. Tali, is there a way you could bolster the security on that door?" said Shepard, turning to Tali.

"Yes, commander. I'll do that now," said Tali, moving closer to the front door and activating her omni-tool. Garrus stepped toward Kiana and opened his mouth to speak, and faltered. Shepard walked toward Tali and the door. Garrus turned to follow, stopping halfway.

"I'll find him, Kiana. Don't worry," said Garrus over his shoulder, then took his leave from the apartment. Shepard waited for Tali to finish her security adjustments to the door. The two found Garrus standing on a balcony looking over a large part of the residential area. Shepard knew enough to not push Garrus to discuss where his head was at. With others, this state of emotional vulnerability might be a liability. With Garrus, it drove him. Shepard knew he wouldn't rest until he found Scratch, for better or worse. She trusted Garrus with her life, but this was personal for him and that scared her. Shepard knew how far he would go, how far he had already gone to deliver justice for those who didn’t have anyone else to stand up for them. She started walking toward the end of the market, motioning for her squad to follow.

"Come on, I have a feeling we're not going to be able to avoid talking to Aria now," she said, walking into a corridor. The walls were lined with lights and the low bass vibrated through the walls. Shepard stretched her neck and shoulders. She disliked Afterlife and the arrogant asari for whom the club served as a command center. However, she knew she'd find at least some answers there – if not a whole new set of problems.


	4. In the Afterlife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shep and friends negotiate with Aria

Security outside of Afterlife was heavier than Shepard had ever seen it before. As her team walked up to the door to the bottom floor of the club, Shepard saw a serious looking krogan watching them and talking into an earpiece. The krogan stood by the door along with two turians Shepard could only assume were guards, judging by the way they glared at the passerby and carried weapons. Her group approached the door and were stopped by one of the turians.

"No weapons allowed inside," he said, indicating Shepard and her crew. Garrus barked a harsh laugh and the guard frowned.

"Since when?" asked Garrus.

"Those are the rules. You don't like 'em? Talk to Aria.  _ After _ you surrender your weapons," said the turian rudely, moving a hand to his pistol. Garrus mirrored his movement, glaring at the guard. Shepard stepped forward between them to intervene, then the krogan stepped in.

"Aria has been expecting you, Commander Shepard," said the krogan. He gestured for the guards to move aside. Garrus favored the guard who talked to them with a pointed-toothed grin and patted his sniper rifle as he walked by.

The crew made their way in. The inside of the club was significantly warmer than the rest of the station. It smelled like sweat and booze to Shepard – a smell that reminded the commander strongly of her childhood. She wondered if that's why she hated Afterlife so much. After a moment she shrugged off the notion, not wanting to think about it. The squad wound their way through groups of dancing and drinking patrons. A drunken man on the dance floor turned around and grabbed Shepard to dance. Shepard shoved him off her a bit more violently than she had planned. She apologized, but the man flung a series of rude gestures at her anyway. Shepard didn't hold it against him. People came to places like Afterlife to escape. Judging by the large crowd, Shepard guessed the people of Omega were badly in need of escape.

When they had reached the far end of the bar, Shepard was not surprised to find four large and heavily armed turians and a batarian lined up by the end of the stairway that led to Aria's lounge. She recognized the batarian as Anto from her previous visits. He made no indication that he recognized her at all. Shepard leaned over to look at the other entrance to Aria's and found a similar scene. It looked like Aria was either expecting trouble or rebounding from it. Shepard wasn't thrilled with either of those possibilities. As much as Shepard considered Aria to be a crooked tyrant, she admitted that Aria did maintain a semblance of order on Omega. "Semblance" being the operative word. Anto spoke into an earpiece, waited for a response, and nodded Shepard and her team up the stairs.

Aria sat reclined in the middle of a sofa that overlooked the main dance floor. She had a drink in her hand – water, from what Shepard could tell. She seemed as cool as ever to the commander, despite the increased guard presence. Garrus and Tali waited at the entrance to the lounge as Shepard stepped forward up the few low stairs to where Aria sat. Sitting down, Shepard mimicked Aria's posture, reclining and lazily crossing one leg over the other. Let the games begin, she thought dourly. She crossed her arms and waited for Aria to speak first. The asari looked at Shepard and her companions, took a slow sip from her glass and leaned forward.

"Commander Shepard," she began. Shepard inclined her head slightly toward Aria, her face a mask of polite interest. "Hero of the Citadel, and now the conqueror of the collectors. Do you like that last one? I thought of it just now."

"Catchy," said Shepard. "Listen, Aria, I'd really rather just cut to the chase here -"

"What's the rush, Shepard?" she asked. Smiling wickedly, Aria turned and waved to Garrus, he looked away. "I see you brought our old friend Archangel," said Aria. She looked over at Tali and then back to the commander, smiling. "And a quarian! Adorable. A little 'Fleet and Flotilla' action going on aboard your ship, commander?" the asari jeered. Aria studied Shepard's face, but she found it unreadable. She continued, needling. "I am curious about Archangel. Does he have a death wish? Most people around here are more than content to believe he was killed in that firefight a couple months ago."

"That's part of the reason I'm here," Shepard began.

"I'll just bet it is," spat Aria. The change in her tone alarmed the commander. She saw the nearest guards reach for their weapons, as well as Garrus and Tali. She shook her head at her crew and they stood down, reluctantly. Aria signaled for her guards to be at ease, and then relaxed herself. "So, why are you here? Did you come to tell me what it feels like to be the cause of all my problems?"

"Excuse me?" asked Shepard, bewildered.

"Don't get coy with me, Shepard. I know you've been down to the markets, surely you've seen your friend Massani's influence at work down there," said Aria. This should be good, thought Shepard.

"Aria, what are you talking about? What does Zaeed have to do with anything?" she asked.

"At least you don't deny it. Very well, Shepard, I'll play it your way – for now," warned Aria. With an exasperated sigh, she began. "Not long ago, your ship was spotted on Zorya. While there, you, Massani, and Archangel over there stormed the Eldfell-Ashland refinery, killing Vido Santiago who was acting captain of the Blue Suns as well as a large number of miners who died when the refinery exploded. I must admit I'm impressed, Shepard, I didn't think that was your style."

"It's not - if I could change how things turned out, I would. Even so, Vido was nothing less than a terrorist. We did the galaxy a favor that day," said Shepard.

"Spare me the speech. I am not one of your fans," said Aria, making the last word sound like an insult. Shepard rolled her eyes and sighed.

"It was a commission Zaeed had picked up before joining my crew. We took care of it. End of story," said Shepard.

"You took down the head of one of the biggest mercenary groups in the galaxy, Shepard! With the man who founded them! You expect me to believe that's where it ended? Unless that  _ is _ what you actually believe," said Aria, laughing. "No, I can't believe that you, of all people, would be that naïve. It would ruin my image of you as a shrewd and fearless savior of worlds, commander." Aria smirked at Shepard, and she narrowed her eyes in response.

"Look Aria, I don't know what you're trying to get at, but neither I nor any of my crew have had anything more to do with the Blue Suns since we left Zorya," said Shepard. She was pretty sure she was telling the truth. Aria scoffed. Shepard ignored her and continued, pointing a gloved finger at her host. "You know who I am, and you know what my team and I are capable of. If I wanted to take you down, Aria, I would have done it by now," she said. She spoke with conviction that could not be denied, even by Aria. The asari tilted her head slightly, considering Shepard's statement. She swirled her water glass slowly in her hand, and watched the liquid's movement.

"If I did believe that, and I'm not saying that I do," said Aria in an attempt to save face, "that doesn't much change the situation at hand. Everything here on Omega started going straight to hell after we got the news of Vido's untimely death."

"Everything? What is the situation here?" asked Shepard.

"My intel says that the new leader of the Suns has his sights set on taking over Omega – surprise, surprise. As you can imagine, I've tried to shut them down on more than one occasion, but they're always ready for us. My people are getting slaughtered in ambushes that we should have been prepared for," said Aria. Her hands turned into fists in her lap. "My intel is corrupted, Shepard. As much as I don't want to talk about this with an outsider, I think we can help each other." Aria looked over to gauge Shepard's reaction. Shepard raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"Are you saying that the Suns are responsible for clearing out the markets?" asked Shepard.

"That, and terrorizing everyone down there into only doing business with them. They're controlling trade – and they're  _ good _ at it! Trying to strangle me financially. It's too clever for the miscreants who used to run the Suns here. As if that weren't enough, there's the matter of the leak within my organization."

"What do you know about the new leader?" asked Shepard.

"He's a dead man when I find him," said Aria. "Could be a woman, that would be interesting – she would still be just as dead, though. He calls himself Alpha, which would be cute if it weren't so annoying. I'm assuming they're still operating out of the Suns base down by the warehouses, but, like I said, I don't trust anything I hear anymore."

"Why ask for my help? Why not ask the other merc groups?" asked Shepard. Aria sighed dramatically and threw her hands up in the air.

"Cowards, all of them! Eclipse and Blood Pack say they're waiting to see who wins. The vorcha – well, they're about as organized as a pack of varren."

"Guess that's what you get when you deal with mercenaries," said Shepard. "I'm intrigued, but why would I want to help you? I could just leave now and head to the next nearest space station."

"I can pay you well."

"Don't mistake me for a mercenary," said Shepard. Aria laughed openly.

"Don't kid yourself, Shepard. You're no longer military. Just because you're used to hunting bigger game for your own noble reasons doesn't mean you aren't a hired gun for the Illusive Man," said Aria. Shepard leaned in closer to her.

"I don't work for Cerberus anymore either," she said. Her tone was dangerous. 

"Sounds like you could use the credits, then," said Aria, unblinking. Shepard looked over to Garrus and Tali. Tali made a sweeping gesture with her hand. Garrus saw it and nodded at Shepard.

"There's a man, a human mechanic. His name is Scratch. He's been kidnapped by the Blue Suns. I want a security detail outside his home for his wife and daughter until we get him back," said the commander. Aria nodded.

"I know of him. His  _ wife _ was a dancer here. I can't believe she went through that bizarre human matrimonial ceremony. I will put a watch down there, but my guard's presence will only agitate the Suns. Does this mean we have an understanding, Shepard?" asked Aria. From the corner of her eye, Shepard saw Tali make the sweeping gesture again.

"One hundred thousand," said Shepard. Tali gave her a thumbs up. Shepard looked at Garrus and he tilted his head to the side. "Up front. Also, the parts and labor needed to fix my ship." Garrus nodded affirmatively.

"Seventy five," said Aria, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not going to haggle with you. Unless you're not interested -" Shepard moved as if to stand, Aria held up a hand.

"You make deals like a volus banker," said Aria, sounding slightly amused. "Fine, a hundred thousand, except you'll have fifty up front. You'll get the rest when I have at least the name of the double-agent in my employ and satisfaction that the Blue Suns are taken care of. You'll have the credits, repair,  _ and _ I'll forget those data packages you delivered to that ridiculous salarian last time you were here." Shepard grabbed her elbow and pulled her arm across her body, stretching her shoulders.

"Don't know anything about that," she said, and shrugged. "Seems reasonable enough. You have a deal." Shepard looked pointedly at Aria's omni-tool. The asari raised an eyebrow, then after a moment obliged the commander and activated the tool, transferring the credits to her account. Shepard stood up and held out her hand to Aria. They shook on the deal and turned to part ways. Aria returned to her seat overlooking her club. Shepard followed Garrus and Tali out the way they entered. Away from Aria's lounge, Shepard shook out her arms.

"Come on, I can't get out of this place fast enough," said Shepard as she plowed through a group of enthusiastic dancers. It seemed like the way out of the club was longer than the way in, but they finally got outside. The door opened and the cool fresh air blew over the squad. It felt to Shepard like she hadn't had a good breath in an hour. She was tired, sore, and more than a little annoyed. Doing business with Aria made her feel dirty, but the Normandy needed the repairs and her crew could use the credits. That mechanic needed their help, that much Shepard knew. That it wasn't all about the money was the one thing that made her feel okay about the situation. She turned to her friends. "So much for shore leave, huh?" she said, one hand massaging her temple.

"Most of the crew was waiting until we got to the Citadel to take their leave anyway," said Tali. Shepard looked sharply at the quarian.

"That's information that would have been more useful to me a few hours ago," she said. Tali shrugged, putting her hands up.

"We're going to need to know more about the Suns defenses so we're not going in there blind, Shepard," said Garrus, fussing with his omni-tool. He paused. "Uh, we'll also need to know where we're going."

"Yeah, I got that. Maybe EDI's scans will pick something up." Shepard leaned over a rail and looked down into the center of Omega. She knew the Suns would be well armed. That Aria had a mole in her organization was cause for alarm. She was as shrewd as any information broker Shepard had met, with the possible exception of Liara. If Aria didn't know who was betraying her, that meant the deceiver was very good. If the mercs didn't already know she was coming, they would know soon enough. Her head ached from stress and annoyance. She didn't want to ask her crew to come with her. She knew she didn't have to ask, that they'd be more than willing to volunteer. Hell, they might even fight over it. Still, she couldn't help but feel that they all deserved a vacation. The vacation would have to be postponed. Garrus and Tali stood on either side of Shepard, sharing her vista.

"One of these days, something really is going to be as simple as it seems and I am going to have a heart attack and die from surprise," said Shepard.

"And then we'd have to find some other rogue terrorist organization with deep pockets to bring you back from the dead," said Garrus simply. Shepard laughed and punched him in the arm, forgetting about his armor. Shepard rubbed her knuckles and pushed herself off the rail, leading her team toward Omega's docking bay.


	5. The War Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shep briefs the squad about the mission she picked up on Omega.

Joker bobbed his head in time to the beat of the Expel-10 song that blasted through his headset. The away team had been ashore for longer than he expected, but there had been zero traffic on the comm. Joker knew from experience that if Shepard had run into trouble, he would be one of the first to hear about it. He scanned a monitor looking for sound fluctuations, making sure that he hadn't missed any static. Nothing - apparently the away team was just taking their time. Leaning over, he deftly sifted through the open windows on his console. He smiled in satisfaction to find out he won the turian flight simulator game he had been bidding on as he flicked through the tabs on his extranet browser. A vid of a house cat ambushing a tough looking krogan played in a small window. Joker chuckled and flicked to the next tab. He pressed "replay" on the virtual chess board. Five moves later, he had checkmated his opponent, "infilTr80rN7" - location blocked. Joker was contemplating a trip to the mess when he heard EDI announce Shepard's arrival.

"Logged: Commander Shepard and shore party aboard, Officer Lawson stands relieved," said the AI. Joker swung his chair around to greet Shepard. With a start, he also quickly turned down the volume on his headset.

"- be down there in a couple minutes, I'm just gonna let Joker know what's going on," said Shepard to her squad as they exited the decontamination chamber. Joker watched Garrus and Tali chatting while they walked toward the elevator. He heard Shepard's boots on the metal floor, rounding the corner to the cockpit. She looked harassed and preoccupied. She roughly crammed her dark blonde hair behind her ears and she had on what Joker called her "Don't-talk-to-me-I'm-on-a-mission" face. He prepared himself for a slough of information which he guessed was probably not about the wacky hijinks of the crew who had taken shore leave on Omega.

"Change of plans, Joker," said Shepard. "Blue Suns are getting out of hand on the station – kidnapping, racketeering -"

"The usual?" asked Joker, smirking. Shepard took off her gloves and tucked them under her arm. Her expression changed slightly, relaxing. She leaned against the wall.

"Basically, yeah. It got pretty heated in the markets down there. All the merchants were driven out, their shops were looted. We ran into some trouble with a couple mechs - nothing serious," she said.

"So what's the new plan, boss?" he asked.

"Oh - yeah, I told Aria we'd take care of it," said Shepard quickly. Her eyes were firmly on the monitors above the pilot's head.

"Wait - Aria? Self-proclaimed 'Queen of Omega' Aria? We're working for  _ her _ now?" said Joker incredulously.

"We're working  _ with _ her  _ for _ now," Shepard corrected. "It's not ideal, but there are people who need help down there and Aria's credits will keep us afloat until we can talk to the council. She's also footing the bill for the hull repairs, in addition to what we're being paid." Joker shook his head.

"Well at least that's something. Hey, maybe we can go work for Eclipse next and they'll give us a new paint job! I'm thinking lightning bolts on the front end," the pilot jested. Shepard rolled her eyes.

"It's not like that. Anyway, I'm gonna brief the squad in a few minutes. Thought you'd want to know we might be sticking around longer than planned," she said.

"Yeah, well telling the pilot where the ship is going is generally considered a good idea."

"Ah, Joker. This is why I keep you around," she said. Shepard looked around the cockpit, checking on the Normandy's systems. Joker hastily closed his extranet browser. Shepard hid her smile from the pilot.

"Anything else, commander?" asked Joker.

"That’s it for now," said Shepard.

"Alright, see ya," he said. The commander turned to leave and made her way down through the CIC. Joker could see Yeoman Chambers grab Shepard's attention. Shrink's probably warning her that we've all finally lost it, he guessed. Chuckling to himself, Joker turned his chair around and the volume up on his headset.

**

In her cabin, Shepard had a moment to catch up with the goings on in the Normandy. Gear cleaned and put away – check. Unread messages read – check. Space hamster - fed. Shepard looked over the roster of available personnel for the second time. It appeared that from her immediate team, only Mordin and Kasumi had taken up the offer for shore leave on Omega. In an unofficial postscript, Miranda had noted that engineers Ken and Gabby had left together. Shepard smirked; amused by not only the engineers leaving together, but at Miranda's passing the information along. She was glad to know that her relationship with the business-minded Cerberus officer had gotten to the point where she felt comfortable sharing gossip. Shepard wasn't sure whether to be surprised or relieved at how many of her squad remained on the ship. She'd need their help, but she did not look forward to briefing them on the mission if Joker's reaction was any indication of how the rest of them would feel. She tapped the screen at her terminal, summoning EDI.

"Ship-wide intercom please, EDI."

"Intercom ready, commander." Shepard could hear the low bell tone of the intercom simultaneously from the speaker in her quarters and in the elevator, which stood open on her deck.

"Commander Shepard speaking. All available squad members please head to the briefing room. Shepard out," said the commander. Hearing her own voice on the intercom is what put her off using it most of the time. Did she really sound like that? In her own head, she thought her voice sounded more – authoritative, or something. Closing the screen, she spun her chair away from the desk. It took her a moment to realize Garrus stood in her doorway, silent as the ship. 

"I thought we were gonna finish up that business from before,” said Garrus. 

"Mr. Vakarian, you’re going to make me blush.”

"I plan on doing a lot more than that - after meeting with the crew, that is," he said. 

"Right, I did just tell them to head down to the comm room, didn't I?" Shepard rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Yep.”

"Ah well, did you come all the way up here just to walk me down?"

"Kinda. I’ve been here since just before you began your announcement."

"Damn, Garrus. I’m sorry. We’ll get some time soon,” she said. He curled his long fingers around hers and kissed her forehead. 

"Well let's get down there, can't have them all together in one place for too long – could get messy."

**

The door to the briefing room was open. From the murmur inside, Shepard could tell that most of her team had already assembled. She was also pleasantly surprised to hear laughter, though she wasn't sure what she expected. The commander was about to turn the corner into the room when Garrus held up a long finger and halted her. He had a curious glint in his eye. Shepard looked at him, puzzled, but it soon became clear to her why he had stopped. He put a hand to his ear.

"You thought the Hammerhead was bad? You weren't there when we had the Mako! We had a joke below deck. Wrex always said he wasn't sure what would kill him first: Saren and the geth, or Shepard's driving," Shepard recognized Tali’s voice from the hallway followed by a chorus of laughter. She shot a wry smile at Garrus.

"I remember one time we were on a low-G planet in the Mako," continued Tali. "There was a pirate base camp below us at the bottom of this steep cliff. Shepard turns to us and says, 'Let's do this', right before she accelerates and hurls us over the edge! We drifted for so long before we finally landed upside down about a hundred meters away. We blew our cover, but it was worth it to see Garrus looking like he was about to faint." Another round of laughter. Shepard laughed out loud in the hall, even more so when the sound of her voice quieted the group inside. She stepped into the briefing room.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad," said Shepard. "I mean, who drove through a mass relay and landed right on top of a bunch of geth? If you're going to critique my driving skills, be fair and at least include the good parts."

"Right," Garrus coughed and followed her into the conference room. 

"Well, I’m glad to see everyone lightening up a bit. It's been a tense couple of weeks," said Shepard. Thane found a seat near Samara. They nodded at each other. Jacob, Legion, and Miranda sat opposite them, with Garrus and Tali at the end of the table facing Shepard. Grunt paced along the side wall, punching his palm and grumbling quietly to himself. Jack stood near Zaeed in the back corner. Zaeed merely looked bored as he scanned through a magazine he brought up with him. Jack tried her best to look put out, but she couldn't hide her curiosity.

"Why are we here, Shepard? I thought we were supposed to be getting some free time," said Jack.

"To see the beautiful sights of Omega? No thanks, I'd rather work," said Miranda, lacing her long fingers together and looking coolly from Jack to the commander.

"Nobody asked you, cheerleader!" said Jack. White light flashed from her palms, threatening.

"Save it, both of you!" Shepard warned. "Getting to the point, I picked up a job on the station – hunting mercs, basically. I'm only taking a small team in, but I need everyone I can get to help plan. If you'd rather take your leave now, go ahead, I won't hold it against you. We just came back from a high-risk mission, I understand not wanting to get right into another one."

"High risk, huh? I'm in," rumbled Grunt, bumping his fists excitedly.

"We'll get to that part soon, Grunt – don't worry," said the commander. She scanned the room gauging the level of interest. No one was leaving. Shepard smiled inwardly and continued. "The man we were going to see about the Normandy's repairs has been kidnapped by Blue Suns. They've taken over most trade on the station, either by bullying shop owners or by redirecting shipments. From what we heard while we were there, it sounds like they're making a big push against Aria, and she's close to caving."

"Blue Suns? How the hell did they organize themselves after that shit hole we left them in on Zorya?" said Zaeed as he shoved his magazine away.

"That's one of the questions, Zaeed. Aria was convinced it was an elaborate scheme between you and I to take over the Suns and then Omega," said Shepard. Zaeed crossed his arms and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Hmm. That doesn't sound like a half-bad idea, Shepard. I was thinking about retiring, but -" said Zaeed, pondering.

"I wasn't making a suggestion. I assured Aria that wasn't the case. Nevertheless, one of her people is double-dealing with the Suns, corrupting her intel and who knows what else," said Shepard. "Simply put, the job is to take out the Suns, find the mole, and rescue the mechanic – not necessarily in that order."

"Wait, you're saying we're working for Aria?" asked Jacob. He shook his head, mumbling something under his breath.

"No, we're working  _ with _ Aria. She's not calling the shots, we're doing this our way. I wasn't looking for this, but the situation down there is bad. People are scared to leave their homes. There are armed security mechs patrolling civilian sectors! While Aria may not be the most noble leader, she's kept Omega operating relatively smoothly for decades. Think about what would happen to all those people if the Suns took over leadership of Omega," said Shepard, the volume of her voice escalating gradually to the end. Samara pushed her chair quietly from the table and stood up, placing her blue palms on the table in front of her.

"You do not have to explain your actions, Shepard. I believe that all of us here have come to trust your judgment absolutely," she said calmly. The asari justicar looked around the room, almost daring anyone to contradict her. Finding no one, she took her seat. She inclined her head to Shepard, indicating for her to continue.

"Thank you, Samara," she said, touched by the justicar's statement as well as her crew's affirmation. "That basically covers the job. It's not gonna be easy, and there's a lot we don't know."

"We know that intel is being corrupted, maybe electronically. I can run a trace on the data and see if there is anything suspicious going on in the relay," offered Tali. Shepard nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"What we need is an insider, someone on the station who can tell us objectively what's going on," said Miranda.

"Mercs won't talk to us, not now. If they were uninvolved, being seen talking to us would just make them a target," said Zaeed.

"What about Patriarch?" asked Garrus. Shepard remembered the old krogan she'd helped out of an attempt on his life. He said he would be grateful, but Shepard wondered if it was time to collect.

"He's not what I would call objective. He was Aria's advisor," said Shepard.

"Yes, but it didn't seem like she listened to him much the last time we talked with him. I'll bet he knows more than what he's telling Aria, if she's even listening to him," said Garrus. Shepard shrugged.

"It's a start," she conceded. "Tomorrow Garrus, Grunt and I will go talk to the Patriarch." Grunt punched the air with his head. "Thank you, everyone. Once we do a little recon, we'll be better suited to get down to the real work. In the meantime, everyone get some rest. As soon as we have something to work with, we'll reconvene." The meeting adjourned, everyone began to slowly file out of the briefing room. Shepard tilted her head, noticing Legion remaining seated – apparently in an inactive state. She walked over to the geth and touched his shoulder. The light on his head glowed brighter when she touched him, and he acknowledged her.

"Shepard-Commander," he said plainly.

"You're quiet," said Shepard.

"Your form of communication is inefficient -" the geth began.

"Yes, we've covered this. Figure of speech, Legion. Do you have anything to add in regards to infiltrating the Suns base?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. While you were discussing, we were remotely accessing Omega's systems. We have hacked through the firewalls which will allow the Normandy to take control of the station's defenses, such as they are. Also, we have detected that the majority of weapons and tech are being delivered to a specific warehouse. There is also a notable organic signature there, we believe that is the Sun's base," said Legion. Shepard blinked, stunned. She would make it a point to record every time Legion surprised her with a new skill, just so she could keep track. Remotely hacking firewalls could come in handy in the future. She awkwardly patted the geth on the back.

"Keep up the good work, Legion," she said. Suddenly sleepy, she checked the time on her omni-tool. It was a little early to go to bed, but she guessed Garrus was already back up in her cabin with ideas of how to keep them busy for a little while. 


	6. Only a Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard has a dream. The strike team makes a plan.

Shepard's mind had been on the edge of consciousness for what felt like hours. In her bed, she shifted uncomfortably. It seemed to her that the moment she thought she would find sleep was the moment somewhere on her body would start to ache. She turned again, trying not to disturb Garrus, who looked like a turian statue. He lay there flat on his back, arms at his sides.  _ How is he even comfortable?  _ Shepard wondered. She was strictly a side-sleeper. She wondered for a moment if that's what her problem was. She looked at her alarm clock for the time, it read 02:00. She'd been at this for two hours. Shepard twisted over, laying on her stomach, and shoving her pillow into a different shape. She breathed deeply, remembering the meditation techniques that Samara had been teaching her. Emptying her mind and relaxing each muscle from her feet to her head, she began to feel that familiar vertigo of slipping into the dream space. Shapes danced behind her eyelids and she began to hear voices, some more familiar than others. The voices began to speak words Shepard could understand. The shapes began to form images.

_ Shepard looked around. She was standing at the edge of a river, it was warm – almost hot. The water at her feet was dark and muddy. The river bank was charred and covered with blackened debris of varying sizes. A crumbling cement wall stuck out from the black sand – the remains of a building. The sun was directly above her and she began to feel sweat beading on her neck, where her skin met her armor. Recognition flooded her brain, filling her with dread.  _

_ She was on Virmire. It looked like the bomb had detonated, effectively destroying Saren's krogan breeding facility and his research. Shepard walked around the exposed wall, trying to recognize the structure. She began to run. Similar images of rubble and blackened, ravaged ground blurred past her. Her armor did not hinder her speed, she ran effortlessly. Suddenly, she found the base camp set up by the salarian special tasks group. It was untouched by the blast, exactly as she remembered it. She walked into the first tent, half-expecting to see Captain Kirrahe looking over boxes of supplies. She found gunnery chief Ashley Williams sitting in a folding chair in the center of the floor. Ashley smiled sadly at the commander, remaining in her seat. _

_ "I was wondering when you'd get here," said Ashley. _

_ "I came as fast as I could," said Shepard, without a thought. "Come on, Ash. Let's get you out of here." _

_ "It's too late for that, ma'am," said Ashley. Images began to flash in Shepard's mind: Saren holding her by the throat, the view from the Normandy of Virmire as the nuclear device exploded, Kaidan's tear-filled eyes, a plaque bearing Ashley's name on the Citadel presidium. Anger, grief, and regret flooded over Shepard in waves, she struggled to catch her breath. _

_ "Ash, I'm so – so  _ sorry _ ," said Shepard. Her words rang hollow and trite in her ears. _

_ "I was never afraid to die for the Alliance, commander. You don't have to worry about me. It was just different than I expected, I guess," said Ashley. _

_ "I had to double back. I had to make sure the geth didn't get their hands on that bomb!" said Shepard, her line in a conversation she'd had a hundred times before. _

_ "We both know there's more to it than that," said Ashley. Shepard felt the guilt rise up from deep inside her. She tried to push it back, hurling her rationale at it. Planting the bomb was their primary objective, she had to defend it. They were closer to the bomb site, they'd wipe out the geth there and then find Ashley. Kaidan was the higher ranking officer with valuable biotic skills. Ashley had backup from the salarian special tasks group, Kaidan had only a few scared Alliance rookies.  _

_ Kaidan had told Shepard that he cared about her by everything that he said and did. They had shared a bed. The guilt won. Shepard felt dirty and selfish. She remembered her last encounter with Kaidan on Horizon, after she had been rebuilt by Cerberus after two years of being dead herself. His eyes flared with anger at her for what he saw as betrayal of the Alliance and his trust. Garrus’ face flashed in her head. She thought of his embrace, his fingers in her hair and his breath soft and hot on her neck. Her recollection of intimacy with Garrus blended with her memories of being with Kaidan on the last night before her team went through the Mu relay to Ilos. Shepard's guilt raged. Ashley leaned forward in her seat, nodding her head sympathetically, as if she were privy to the commander's thoughts. "I don't know why, but I kept expecting to see you and the LT running around our barricade to the rescue," said Ashley. _

_ "I wanted to, I planned to, but we were overrun by geth. Saren showed up and he almost killed us both. We only outran the blast by a minute or so," said Shepard, her voice pleading. _

_ "I know, commander, I saw the Normandy take off. I was so proud. I only got scared when I realized I was alone. I mean, on a strange planet surrounded by aliens and all. I always thought I would die protecting humans," said Ashley. Tears stung Shepard's eyes, her face flushed. "I realized something, though. Everyone dies alone. So in the end, I guess it doesn't matter who's there when you go." _

_ "You deserved someone – something better than what you got," Shepard stammered, desperately trying to come up with something meaningful to say. _

_ "I had someone," said Ashley, smiling. "And then you left." With that, Ashley faded away, leaving Shepard alone in the tent. The tent rattled, standing up to a rough gust of wind. Shepard could feel the heat of her tears running down her face. She turned and walked out of the tent. _

_ She pushed aside the tent flap, distracted. The sound of gunshots startled her – she followed the sound, running down paths that were oddly familiar. The ground under her feet was no longer the blackened sand of Virmire, instead, it was a road paved with gravel. Shepard stopped short, recognizing the area around her as the landfill near Mindoir. She peered around the corner and spotted a group of teenagers laughing and talking. Shepard recognized her fifteen year old self, perched on top of a dirty broken crate talking to her childhood friend, Samir. Samir had a shotgun, and after school and on weekends, they would get a group together and shoot rats down at the dump. Shepard watched her teenage self grab the gun and take aim as the other kids hushed and watched. They all knew she was the best shot of the bunch, but some of the more stubborn boys wouldn't admit it because she was a girl. Shepard had visited this place many times as a kid. As an adult, her mind would not let her leave. _

_ In the distance, a pillar of black smoke appeared. The kids were oblivious, laughing and congratulating each other for good shots. Shepard yelled at the group, they did not hear her. She ran up to them waving her hands, but they made no indication that they could see her. Shepard ran toward the smoke, leaving her teenage self and her old friends to their recreation. A horrible, sinking feeling hit Shepard's gut, nauseating her. She knew what she would find and she wanted to stop, to hide. Her mind kept bringing her here, and she found her feet would not stop moving her toward the smoke – toward her colony. _

_ She got to the top of a hill that overlooked the edge of the settlement. Shepard walked around the prefabricated modular housing units, looking for signs of fire. She heard screaming and gunshots close by. Reaching for her pistol, she found she was completely unarmed. She ran toward the fray anyway, determined to help before it was too late. Several houses were on fire, the doors blocked from the outside. Shepard saw a tiny face pressed against a window, trapped in one of the burning houses. She ran up the stairs to the house and pushed against the crates blocking the door. The crates wouldn't budge. She pushed harder, with all her strength. Still, the crates wouldn't give an inch. Shepard could hear coughing and screaming from just inside the door. She beat her fists against the window, trying to break the glass, but nothing she did had any effect. The screaming stopped.  _

_ Nearby, a woman shouted, "My daughter! John, where is our daughter?" Shepard turned and ran toward the woman's voice, recognizing it as her mother's. _

_ She found her way easily to her childhood home. It had not been disturbed by the invaders. Inside, her mother and father looked around frantically, calling her name. Through the living room window, Shepard could see why her parents were so intent on finding her. The invaders were slavers, they were taking adolescents and teens, tying them together and leading them to their shuttles. She saw them gunning down the elderly and the very young, seeking only their targets. Shepard's mother fell to her knees, sobbing on the kitchen floor. Her father kneeled, consoling her. _

_ "She's gone, John, they've taken her. I know it!" lamented Shepard's mother. Shepard stood over them both. _

_ "Mom," said Shepard, weakly. Her parents could not hear her. _

_ "We don't know that, sweetheart. She's a smart girl, she's probably hiding," said her father. _

_ "No, no, no! You know how she is! If she was still out there, she would come running to try and stop them! She's gone!" Shepard's mother collapsed into another fit of sobs. Her father patted her back, his face grim. _

_ One of the slavers kicked through a window, spraying shards of glass all over the living room carpet. Shepard was disgusted to realize that this slaver was a human. He stormed through the house, picking up anything he thought was valuable and stuffing it in a big sack. Shepard followed him closely as he walked through her home. He found the kitchen and Shepard's parents. Shepard stood directly in front of him, but he looked right through her. Shepard's father put up his hands. Without a thought, the slaver shot him in the head, turned, and shot her mother. He searched Shepard's parents' bodies. Finding a credit chit on her father and nothing on her mother, he left. Shepard stared down at her parents' bodies, and around at her ransacked home. _

_ It seemed like only seconds later, her teenage self came charging through the door. She felt the pain all over again as she watched herself react to what happened. Shepard then watched herself load up Samir's shotgun and run out of the house, screaming. She followed, and watched herself as she shot one of the slavers square in the chest as he loaded up the last of his victims. Samir shouted to her from the slaver's ship, he was bound to one of the other boys. The door closed and the shuttle took off. The girl aimed carefully at the engines, but the shuttle was already too far away for the shotgun to be effective. She was left standing in the field, alone. The familiar hum of an Alliance frigate's landing gear broke the silence only moments later. Shepard walked toward the craft, observing a young lieutenant Hackett leading a squad toward the burning houses. She closed her eyes. _

_ Opening her eyes, Shepard was in the Citadel tower. The council was in session, and Councilor Anderson stood proudly next to the turian councilor, smiling at Shepard. She looked around, there was no other Shepard there. Admiral Hackett and Kaidan Alenko stood behind her, looking extremely satisfied. _

_ "Captain Shepard, the council has reviewed the new evidence that you and your team have brought forward," said the asari councilor. "We have decided to organize all forces on the Citadel immediately against the impending reaper threat. Additionally, a call will be made to all affiliated worlds to ready their fleets in defense of their homes." _

_ "We couldn't have done this without you, Captain. You may have just saved the entire galaxy,  _ again _ ," said Anderson. The council stepped down from their podium, disappearing to their chambers. Shepard turned to her squad. Kaidan thumped her on the back, his face lit up in a grin. Hackett smiled and nodded appreciatively. Shepard walked with them to the docking bay, to tell the rest of the team the good news. She imagined the excited reactions of her crew and swelled with pride. They met Doctor Chakwas outside the Normandy airlock. The doctor's face was stony, she crossed her arms as the squad approached. _

_ "Commander, I don't know how to say this to you," the doctor began. _

_ "What's happened, doctor?" asked Hackett. Dr. Chakwas looked at Kaidan sadly and shook her head. She placed a hand on Shepard's arm. _

_ "I tried to get a hold of you over the comm, but Jeff couldn't reach you," said Dr. Chakwas. _

_ "We were in a council meeting, we had to turn off the comm," said Kaidan. _

_ “Shepard, it’s Garrus. He was shot, some old mercenary with a grudge hanging around Chora’s Den,” said Dr. Chakwas.  _

_ “Oh my god, where is he?” Shepard looked around desperately.  _

_ “He didn’t make it, Commander,” said Dr. Chakwas, her voice breaking. “He passed not twenty minutes ago.”  _

_ Shepard stared blankly at the doctor, her pulse throbbing in her ears. She shrugged the doctor's hand off her shoulder and walked onto her ship, heading for the crew deck. She walked slowly, even as adrenaline surged through her veins. In her mind, she saw Garrus standing at the main battery, performing his calibrations. She pressed the green lit pad on the outside of the door and entered. Everything was the same, except Garrus wasn't there. Shepard's breath came in ragged gasps, her heart pounded. Outside, she saw a few of the crew clustered around the med lab. She didn't recognize their faces. Some murmured, some wept, but they all turned toward Shepard when they saw her. The small crowd parted for her and she headed into the med lab, hoping fervently to find it empty as usual. _

_ She found Garrus. He lay on one of the beds, on his back, his hands straight at his side. Shepard's mouth twitched into a kind of smile. He looked like he was sleeping. Doctor Chakwas walked into the lab behind Shepard. _

_ "He told me to tell you that he’d be watching over you, that you’d never be alone," said the doctor. Shepard covered Garrus’ hands with hers. They were cold, even colder than usual. Grief hit Shepard like a truck and she sagged, kneeling on the ground. She could feel the emotion surging through her, like a dam had burst. Tears stung at her eyes and despite herself and the crew who stood and watched, Shepard sobbed aloud. _

The sound of her own choked cry woke Shepard. She lurched up, gasping for breath. She was covered in sweat, and her nightclothes stuck to her skin uncomfortably. Her head spun, her pulse was still rapid in her ears. Rubbing her eyes, she was slightly startled to find they were wet. The alarm clock read 06:58, two minutes until her alarm would go off. Great, she thought to herself, unamused.

She looked to her side, Garrus was gone. Her heart sank for a moment. She looked around her room, checked the date on her clock, squeezed her pillow. It was a dream, Shepard chanted to herself. Only a dream. Garrus did not usually sleep for very long, he probably went to get breakfast. Shepard tried to shake the residual feelings from her nightmare, but she found them persistently clinging to the back of her mind. She threw off the bedsheets and stumbled to the bathroom to wash her face.

The mood was decidedly more cheerful in the mess on the crew deck. Mess sergeant Gardner was busy at his station, preparing a hot breakfast for the hungry crew. He hummed along off-key to the song that played in his headset. The smells of coffee and savory foods mingled in Shepard's nostrils. Doctor Chakwas leaned against the island in the kitchen area, talking to Jacob and picking at what looked like a pancake. Shepard hazarded a quick look inside the med bay, it was empty. She released a breath she was not consciously aware she had been holding. 

She walked over to the island, nodded to the doctor and Jacob, and grabbed herself one of Gardner's pancakes. Tasty, but different – Shepard picked the bread product apart with her fingers and found that the mess sergeant had chopped up bits of sausage and mixed it right in with the batter. Pancake surprise, indeed, she mused. Zaeed sat nearby at the table with a plate full of beans and toast, entertaining whomever would listen with his old war stories.

"The bastard thought he'd sold me out, but I got to the Blood Pack first, see? I said I'd owe 'em a favor if they'd help me take him down. They saw reason - a favor from me is worth a lot. Jackass never saw it coming," he said as he shoved a crumbling slice of toast in his mouth. Kelly Chambers sat across from him; nodding and smiling politely. A couple of servicemen sat on either side of Zaeed, completely absorbed in his story, encouraging him. Shepard was amused. She suspected Zaeed loved the attention and being thought of as the mercenary sage, even if he would never admit it.

Shepard meandered, hoping she wasn't making too obvious of a beeline toward the main battery. Touching the green entry pad, she entered and found Garrus where she had hoped.

"Hey Shepard,” he said. Shepard smiled at him, leaning against his weapons bench.

"Hey yourself. Did you get breakfast yet?" she asked. Garrus shook his head.

“The dextro version of Gardner’s ‘pancake surprise’ was uh, a little too surprising. Tali said she had some quarian MREs that she could share, so I’ll grab that from her later.”

“You ready for today?”

“As ready as I’m going to be,” he said. Shepard stared at his library of weapon mods a little more intensely than usual. “Hey, what’s bothering you?”

"It's nothing. I just – I had a really vivid nightmare, I woke up from it this morning. You were in it, that's all," said Shepard. "It's nothing, just a dream."

“When you want to tell me about it, I’ll be here,” he said. Shepard smiled and willed her stinging eyes not to betray her. 

“Later,” she said. He nodded and continued to run his hands over the battery configuration readout.

Time to round up the squad, Shepard selected level four on the elevator monitor. Stepping out into the hall, she found Grunt was already locked and loaded. Shepard generally liked going on missions with Grunt. He was always so excited to fight. Shepard found it refreshing, even if he did encourage her more violent side.

"Battlemaster," he acknowledged Shepard as he passed by her into the elevator. She nodded at the krogan and made her way into engineering.

"Tali, do you have anything for me on Aria's data yet?" said Shepard, bringing up relevant data on her omni-tool. 

"I – yes, Shepard. Aria is right to be paranoid. Omega's entire extranet network is unstable, compromised. What looks like firewalls are actually data mining viruses disguised as security," said Tali, showing Shepard her meaning on the monitor.

"Yesterday, Legion said he remotely hacked the station's defenses, could this be a result of that?" asked Shepard.

"No, I don't think so – the defenses are on another grid. This affects virtually all of the station's communications, though. It's a custom-made virus, Shepard. The person who uploaded it would have to be very familiar with the servers on the station," said Tali. Shepard stared at the monitor, studying Tali's research.

"Well, whomever is behind this knows a lot about Omega by now," Shepard began. "I think it'd be fair to say someone who knew about the servers enough to build a virus for them would have to be working for Aria."

"It's a solid speculation, Shepard. I haven't been able to find any information on the user who uploaded the virus, or even much about the virus itself. I can only tell you what it's doing. If you went into the server room, you would be able to download the info we're missing. However, I doubt you'll be able to just walk in," said Tali.

"Heh, you're probably right. At least we're getting somewhere," said Shepard, clapping her hands together. "Thanks for that, Tali. I'll be in radio contact. We'll try to get into the server room today, but that depends on what we can find out about the Suns defenses."

"I'll be here when you need me, Shepard," said Tali. Shepard nodded at the quarian and left her to her work.

Shepard suited up and armed herself quickly. She felt almost wrong to be excited about the prospect of spilling some merc blood on Omega. There were several conflicting ideas buzzing around in her head of how she should be feeling after her battle with the collectors. Some ideas were put there by others: reporters, friends, even her crew. The thought of taking it easy for a while did have a certain appeal to her. She wanted to go somewhere with Garrus where they wouldn't have to worry about getting shot at; she felt she owed him that much. 

She could have said no to Aria and flown right on through to the Citadel. Shepard had explained her reasoning to herself and her crew multiple times, but after she saw the situation for herself, she couldn't have walked away. As much as she wanted to be the brave and shrewd military strategist the vids portrayed, deep inside the commander was still an angry, vengeful teenager who wanted to rid the galaxy of evil. Shepard struggled to keep that part of her in check, but every once in awhile something would happen that stirred up those old feelings. Crossing the CIC, Shepard could see Garrus and Grunt waiting near the airlock. 


	7. Sensitive Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shep takes Grunt to meet Patriarch.

"Ugh. What kind of krogan hangs out in a place like this?" asked Grunt, looking around at the neon atmosphere in Afterlife. Shepard noticed that his eyes lingered briefly on an asari dancing with a pole above their heads. She led Garrus and Grunt to the door at the back of the club that led to the lower level. The door whispered shut behind them, but they could still hear an echo of the music inside. At least it was cooler in the hall, she thought, and less crowded. 

Shepard would never say that she was claustrophobic, but crowds like the one at Afterlife put her more than a little on edge. Steeling herself, she opened the door to Afterlife's lower level. Blaring electronic rhythms assaulted her ears, she could feel the vibration of the bass in her hardsuit. Shepard waved her squad to the sunken door nearby, indicating their destination. She scooted, slid by, and otherwise maneuvered her way through dancing and partying patrons to the door. Once inside Patriarch's den, she found she could finally breathe.

Patriarch paced, talking animatedly to a couple of batarians. "It was a good fight. I watched the life drain out of that turian general myself – I remember it from time to time. Good for the spirits," he said. Noticing the batarians' attention shift to the well-armed newcomers, Patriarch turned around. He opened his arms widely when he recognized Shepard, his voice boomed, "Commander Shepard! My krantt, back from death again I hear!" The old krogan shook Shepard's hand vigorously. When he broke his grip, Shepard wondered if she would ever regain feeling in her hand. "I had heard you were on Omega, of course. I'm glad you found the time to visit old Patriarch."

"It's good to see you again, Patriarch," said Shepard. She found a seat on a bench and crossed her legs casually. "Grunt, this is the Patriarch. Patriarch, Urdnot Grunt. You remember Garrus." Shepard jerked her head toward Garrus. The krogans looked each other over; Patriarch with subdued curiosity, and Grunt with barely concealed contempt.

"An Urdnot, eh? I used to be a friend to that clan, once upon a time. Strange, you do not bear the Urdnot crest on your armor," said Patriarch.

"I kept the armor that was given to me by the warlord Okeer, my – creator," said Grunt, unable to better describe Okeer's relation to himself. Grunt did not harbor any sentimentality for his creator, but neither did he yet have any special allegiance to his new clan.

"Ah yes, I have heard of you. It honors me to finally meet you, Grunt," said Patriarch. Grunt huffed and crossed his arms. Shepard wondered what she had expected if not this. She looked at Garrus, he shrugged his armored shoulders. Patriarch turned to the commander. "Commander, I assume there is more to your visit than just these introductions."

"Indeed. We were hoping you could help us out with some information.  _ Sensitive _ information," said Shepard, with a pointed glance at the few bystanders in the Patriarch's private room.

"Ah," he said simply. "Fin, the door. Everyone else, out." Patriarch's fans shuffled out of the room without complaint. Shepard wondered briefly how often they were asked to leave. Fin, one of the batarians, closed the door behind him. Shepard glanced around the room, scanning briefly for any visible bugs. Satisfied, she reclined in her seat. "You're here about the Blue Suns, of course," said Patriarch.

"Yes," said Shepard. She was not going to bother questioning his knowledge of her quest. News traveled fast on Omega, and even faster when the news was of valuable interest.

"You realize that I am Aria's advisor, I would have told her everything I know," said Patriarch. Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"She's not listening to you, is she, Patriarch? The breach in her defenses has got her paranoid," said Garrus from the corner. The old krogan looked over at Garrus, narrowing his red eyes.

"She  _ has  _ been less forthcoming of late. She makes a show of keeping everything looking normal to outsiders, but she's basically running this whole operation by herself now. Of course, if anyone knew that for sure, it would all be over today."

"So why not take over? You could be running this station. Why stay down in this hole?" asked Grunt, his deep voice accusing.

"How do you propose I do that, huh? Sure, I have contacts that I have not shared with Aria, but the most valuable are still loyal to her," Patriarch crossed the room, gesturing wildly. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking I've become complacent, turned into an old coward! Don't think that I haven't already accused myself of this! Part of me wants to see Aria brought down - the stupid part that holds the old grudge. The smart part of me knows that I could not do it myself with what I have now, and this is why I have not acted. However, I also know that a takeover by the Suns would be disastrous." 

Grunt did not look mollified by Patriarch's explanation. The old krogan found his seat again and took a sip from a large glass of green liquid. "You're young, Urdnot Grunt. I remember what that was like, even if it was centuries ago for me. You want to kill everything you see; no challenge is too big. Savor that feeling, so that you may remember it if you live long enough for people to disrespect you in your old age."

Grunt mumbled something that sounded a lot like "pathetic old man, lost his quad" to Shepard. The commander ignored Grunt and looked intently at Patriarch, inching forward in her seat.

"No one here has come to disrespect you, Patriarch. What we've come for is information on the Blue Suns defenses. Anything you could tell us would be helpful," said Shepard. She tried her best to keep from sounding patronizing, but she wasn't sure if she succeeded. In the corner, Garrus rolled his eyes.

"I can't tell you much, obviously. I do know they've been heavily recruiting around the apartment blocks and the markets. They're hoping numbers alone will give them the edge, but they're fools. Giving a bunch of over eager kids guns does nothing but shorten their lifespans. Alpha isn't doing everything wrong, though. They've got mechs and new recruits, loads of them – and firepower. You're not going to be able to take their base head on," said Patriarch, shaking his large head.

"Where is the base?" asked Garrus.

"Well, it's where it always was. Near where you holed up not too long ago,  _ Archangel," _ Patriarch glared at Garrus, then turned to Shepard. "You know the warehouse."

"So Legion was right," said Shepard to no one in particular. "Is there anything else you can tell us about their firepower?"

"You're going to need all the heavy weapons you've got. I don't keep a list of their inventory around here, Shepard. That's the most I can tell you." Shepard looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to remember what else she wanted from the old krogan. Her face brightened, remembering.

"Do you know anything about the main server room?" asked Shepard, hopeful. Patriarch smiled widely.

"I suspected something was going on in there, but your curiosity confirms it. There has been some strange interference around the extranet routers, but it's difficult to pin down. I had my man Fin get me the security codes to the server room earlier today. Hopefully they still work. You are welcome to find out - they are yours now." Shepard raised her eyebrows and looked around at her team. Garrus' face was unreadable. Grunt paced in the far corner, grinding his fist into his palm. Shepard turned back to Patriarch.

"Thank you. I think this will help us out," she said.

"We should get there soon, who knows how often they change those codes," said Garrus.

"Good point. Thanks again, Patriarch," said Shepard.

"I am glad that I am able to repay the debt I owe you," said the old krogan ceremonially. He brought up his omni-tool and transmitted the codes to Shepard's. "Let me know what you find when you check out the server room. I have many theories as to what might be there, but I want to know which one is right." Shepard nodded. 

Grunt banged his fist on the door, signaling his desire to leave to the bodyguard stationed outside. Fin obliged, opening the door from the outside. The loud electronic beats burst into the room. Garrus and Grunt led the way, Shepard followed.

"Commander," said Patriarch to Shepard's back. She turned around. "I don't know what Aria told you she wanted, but when you find the traitor – I think it would be best for everyone if you were the one to kill him."

"Noted," said Shepard. She saluted the Patriarch and followed her squad out of the club.

Afterlife never closed, but there were lulls, and no one stayed in the club forever – not even Aria. It was 03:00 when Patriarch finally left to retire to his home for the night. He made his habitual sweep for bugs or explosives, turned off the lights to his private room, and locked the door. He waved to a pretty asari dancer as he left and she rewarded him with a smile and a shimmy. He never saw the unremarkable batarian slumped over his drink at the bar, even though he had been there for hours, watching.

He'd had a long day already, and he was tired of taking orders and being yelled at. Alpha said things were going to be different when he was in charge, but they didn't feel any different yet. He hoped he would get some kind of bonus for completing his task in Afterlife, especially after all the complications he'd had to deal with. No thanks to anyone who was supposed to have his back. He couldn't believe Patriarch’s bodyguard, a fellow batarian, would risk his neck over some old krogan. 

The mission started out easy enough: convince the bodyguard that his family's lives were in danger so he'd plant the bug. It was no matter that they couldn't actually locate the man's family in enough time to make it a more convincing threat. The bodyguard folded like a sheet of paper, at first. He hadn't expected the bodyguard, Fin, to turn around in the end and try to be some kind of hero. He almost got his head blown off, and for what? He was no assassin, which is why he was expecting to be compensated for having to take care of the unruly bodyguard. It wasn't as if hiding bodies on Omega was particularly difficult or unusual, but it can still be risky business – especially with the Hero of the Citadel walking around.

He didn't have anything against Commander Shepard. In fact, he was impressed by the things she'd done, especially taking out the Collectors and killing that reaper. She was just inconvenient to have on Omega, especially if she was planning on backing up Aria. He input the code to the door and slipped inside. He had a chance to scope the place out earlier, even if it meant he had to listen to that insufferable old krogan reminiscing about his glory days. 

He brought up his omni-tool. A blinking light flashed on a screen, glowing brighter as he neared the sofa. He pushed the sofa aside, scanning the wall. A few thumps on the wall sounded a hollow spot and he pressed his fingers against the sides of the tile. Eventually, it clicked open revealing a tiny electronic device – the bug. The man palmed the thing and replaced the furniture. He wasn't sure if it would matter tomorrow if the Patriarch found his room exactly as he'd left it, but he wasn't usually one to take chances. He plugged the listening device into his omni-tool, listening to its recording of the afternoon's events. Annoyed, he forwarded through the bits he was there for, and listened to the entirety of the Patriarch's meeting with Commander Shepard and her crew. He put his hand to his earpiece.

"Base? This is X, I have the recording," he said into his communicator. He waited a moment longer than he expected for a response.

"And?" An annoyed voice on the other end replied simply.

"You want me to just tell you over the comm?" he asked, uncertain. The man, Agent X, wanted to leave the room and the club, but he didn't want to be overheard as he walked around. His hands were cold and clammy as he replayed the recording.

"The bodyguard?" asked the disembodied voice.

"Taken care of," said the man.

"You've done well, Agent X. You will be compensated for going above and beyond," said the voice. The line closed with a beep and the man blinked at his communicator. He pulled his hood over his head nervously and turned to leave. About to open the door, he was surprised to see it already opening. 

**

Patriarch looked down at the small batarian who was lurking around in his office. The krogan realized what was happening and roared. He charged at the small batarian without asking any questions. Patriarch crushed him against the wall where he fell limp. The bug rolled out of his hand onto the floor. Patriarch kicked the intruder to make sure he was out, then shot him in the head for good measure. He picked up the electronic device from the floor and looked at it, disgustedly. Coward spies, he thought. He mentally kicked himself for not being more thorough earlier. He pocketed the device. At his desk, he found the data pad he had come back for and pocketed that as well.

Leaving what he considered his office, Patriarch flagged the bartender down and jerked his thumb toward his door. There was a mess in there that needed to be cleaned up. The bartender nodded, picked up a tray of cleaning supplies, and made his way into Patriarch's room. Patriarch listened to the recording on the bug, confirming his suspicions. Alpha was planning to set a trap for Shepard, no doubt. They knew Shepard and her team were planning to find the Suns base and the server room. Patriarch would be damned to help out that upstart kid in any way, especially against his will. The Suns have their damned fingers everywhere, he grumbled to himself. He was beginning to consider the revamped mercenary group as a worthy adversary. Bad news for them. Patriarch headed back down to his apartment. He wondered how long it would take to polish up his old armor.

**Author's Note:**

> *Story time* I wrote 90% of this fic in 2010. I was enthralled by ME2 and ME3 had just been announced at the video game awards. I was staying temporarily with my grandmother in rural upstate New York shortly after the passing of my grandfather. I was awaiting clearance on my Canadian work visa - it took a while. My grandmother did not have internet in her mobile home, so every time I wanted to upload to FF.net I would have to drive 20 mins into town to sign into the wifi at McDonald's. 
> 
> I'm telling you this because this fic is kind of a time capsule of my participation in the ME fandom as well as a memento of a very unique time in my life. My most recent edits have changed some wordings but most notably have shifted the 'ship. It was originally Shep/Thane, but as I read through, the whole story was really a love letter to Garrus and the Thane scenes seemed tacked on. If you would like to read the original, it is still very much up on FF.net. The other main difference is this version has an ending.
> 
> 12 chapters, updating Tuesdays.


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